Rumours of parents making the most of subsidised GP rates for their children by ‘practice jumping' between medical centres across town are yet to make it onto the Western Bay's Primary Health Organisation's radar.

The organisation insists there are strict rules in place to prevent such instances.

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Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation chief executive Roger Taylor is yet to hear of ‘practice jumping' in the city. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

The remarks follow a letter sent to SunMedia by Cameron Road Medical Centre's Dr Ross Ogle, who insists that while the government and PHO are welcoming free consultations for under-13s, 'there is no such thing as a free lunch”.

From the start of this month the government's extension of the ‘zero fees' scheme for under-sixes kicked in, meaning all children under-13 are now eligible for free general practice visits, both during the day and after-hours.

Ross says the under-13 funding is based on historic utilisation that indicates this age group have an average of 1.8 consultations per year.

The government is funding practitioners for exactly two subsidised consultations per child, per year. Any more than that per year are provided by the doctor, with no extra payment, says Ross.

'Being free sometimes encourages parents to over-access a service with considerable financial jeopardy for doctor's practices,” he explains in his letter.

'This has already happened with the free under-six programme, where some families have taken their youngsters from one doctor to another, running up thousands of dollars in offset payments for their own GP.”

Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation chief executive Roger Taylor admits the PHO is aware of such a phenomenon, adding there is a level of difficulty and cost associated with this activity.

When registered at one practice, those who visit another will then be charged a higher rate due to not being enrolled and unable to gain the capitation rate – a patient fees subsidy – causing the consultation cost to usually a jump from about $40 to $70.

'It's very hard to move from practice to practice because if I was to go to another practice, they can't enrol me unless they are satisfied I intend to use them as the ongoing practice,” says Roger.

'There are very strict rules around this which are designed to prevent people ‘practice jumping'.”

Roger says standard utilisation rates are based upon a national calculation regarding which groupings of people, split into age brackets and gender, visit the GP the most.

It also important to note the level of capitation, or subsidy the practice receives from the government, which depends on the differences in these averages – say between how often a six-year-old boy visits a GP compared to a 65-year-old woman.

'Whilst a number of, say, under six-year-olds might visit their doctors more than what the average utilisation is, it may mean a whole lot of others don't,” says Roger.

'So yes, we can sit here and think of a patient or two who visit more often, but unfortunately what is forgotten is the average – and we don't hear the account of all the people that don't visit. So it's important that the average utilisation rate finds its way in.”

SunMedia was unable to contact Ross Ogle following his comments made in the letter.